Face masks find utility in a variety of manufacturing, custodial, and household applications. In these types of applications, face masks filter out dust and other contaminates to facilitate easier breathing on the part of the user. Likewise, face masks have found utility in the healthcare industry. In this regard, face masks are helpful in that they may be configured to filter exhaled air from the wearer to minimize the amount of bacteria or other contaminants released from the user into the environment. Such a limitation of bacteria contaminants is important in that typically hospital patients require a sterile environment in order to avoid infections, and hospital patients typically have compromised immune systems making them susceptible to infection. Additionally, face masks may also filter inhaled air to protect the user from contaminants that may be found in a hospital setting, as hospital patients commonly carry airborne bacterial pathogens.
It is therefore the case that in the health care field, specifically in operating rooms, health care providers often use face masks to protect themselves from acquiring harmful diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis along with other contagious diseases that may be present in the patients that are being treated.
Face masks have also been designed in order to provide a tight sealing arrangement. Such a sealing arrangement may prove useful in preventing the transfer of pathogens that reside in bodily fluids or other liquids. As such, face masks have been designed in order to prevent airborne pathogens and/or pathogens in fluids from being transferred to and/or from the health care provider.
Some face masks are configured to cover the entire face of a user while other face masks are designed to cover only the nose and mouth of the user. Additionally, face masks have been designed to cover various parts of a user's face. For instance, certain face masks are configured for covering the nose, eyes, and mouth of a user. The section of the face mask that covers the nose and mouth typically is composed of a material that prevents the passage of germs and other contaminants therethrough but allows for the passage of air so that the user may breathe. This section is typically known as a front panel or body portion. Attached to this front panel is a securing device that is used for attaching the front panel securely to the head of the user. For instance, manual tie straps are often employed. For this purpose the front panel of the face mask is placed on the face of the user and the tie straps are extended around the head of the user and tied to fasten the face mask to the user.
Such a fastening arrangement may be problematic in that the user must reach around his or her head in order to tie these straps to one another. In fact, it is sometimes the case that assistance is needed in order to conduct this type of fastening. Solo fastening of the face mask to the face of the user is problematic in that the user's hands may touch his or her head, or hair, or may contact other objects. This touching increases the likelihood of germs being passed onto the hands of the user and subsequently exposes the patient to a greater risk of infection.
Additionally, the use of manual tie straps is problematic in that such a fastening arrangement is typically slow and time consuming. This can be a problem when, for instance, the healthcare provider is faced with an emergency situation in which time is of the essence.
A prior art face mask 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Here, the face mask 10 is attached to the user 12 by way of a pair of manual tie straps 14. In order to affix the manual tie straps 14, the user 12 must reach around his head to affect the tying of the manual tie straps 14. This type of fastening arrangement is undesirable because it is slow, awkward, and may provide for contamination through contact of the hair 16 of the user 12 and the hands of the user 12.
Also, manual tie straps are problematic on face masks in that the face mask may become loose during normal use and require adjusting. In order to readjust the face mask, the user must untie the manual tie straps and then retie them. Such a situation is similar to one retying his or her shoes, and is obviously undesirable in that it is a time consuming process and annoying.
Attempts have been made in the art in order to eliminate manual tie straps on face masks. For instance, the art sometime employs extensions from the front panel of the face mask that have loops or other structure that is designed to hook around the ears of the user. These types of fastening arrangements are undesirable in that they do not allow for the face mask to be used on users of different size. In effect, they only allow for the use on one size of wearer. Also, users of face masks having loop or other structure that is designed to fasten onto the ear of the user is undesirable because users have found it to be uncomfortable having these structures in contact with their ears.
Also, the aforementioned risks of contamination from the head, hair, or other objects onto the hands of the user during attachment of the face mask, as mentioned above, is still present in face masks having this type of attaching feature. Finally, face masks having loops or other structure designed to attach to the ears of the user are problematic in that the face mask may not be adjusted if the face mask becomes loose during normal use.
Also, the use of loop or other structure designed to attach to the ear of the user suffers from the disadvantage of requiring an extended amount of time in order to properly loop or hook the structure around each ear of the user, and to adjust this structure so that it does not extremely irritate the user.
The present invention provides for a face mask having a hook and loop type fastener that alleviates problems encountered with the fastening arrangements found in prior face masks.